Dro's signing for PSG is the latest example of a paradigm shift that has long been underway at Barça, and also at many other La Liga teams. The midfielder, who came up through the ranks at La Masia, has moved to the Parisian club. in exchange for a figure close to 8.5 million eurosThe operation, despite the displeasure it caused Hansi Flick, fits with PSG's policy of signing young talents since Luis Enrique's arrival. In Barça's case, the equation that summarizes the commitment to young players is simple: the club is squeezed by financial weakness, which clashes directly with the fair play of the League, while at the same time La Masia is a unique and one of the most talented youth academies on the planet. All that's needed is a coach who trusts young players. In this respect, recent Barça coaches have paid careful attention to the youth system, in some cases more out of necessity, in others more out of conviction. Ronald Koeman, Xavi Hernández, and Flick have given players their first-team debuts and, most importantly, have given them confidence and consistent playing time.

Making your debut with Barça's first team is the ultimate aspiration for any footballer developed at La Masia. However, transforming that ideal into a solid career is a privilege reserved for a select few. The influx of young prospects has turned access to the first team into a veritable competitive bottleneck. This context has fostered an increasingly common phenomenon: the premature departure of players from the reserve team in search of prominence and lucrative contracts that the club cannot always guarantee. Cases like those of Marc Guiu, Ilaix Moriba, Jordi Mboula, Sergio Gómez, and André Onana exemplify this trend. Pedro has now joined this trend. Dro Fernández, sidelined by Hansi Flick after announcing his intention to leave the club during the winter transfer window. At 18, he is all but certain to join Paris Saint-Germain, who will pay his €6 million release clause.

Barça heads into the first international break with a perfect record. Under Hans-Dieter Flick, the Blaugrana have won all four of their matches and hold a four-point lead in the standings over Atlético Madrid and Villarreal, their closest rivals. This impressive run culminated on Saturday with a brilliant and resounding victory against Valladolid by 7-0.

La Masia has always been a precious treasure for Barça. An identity based on investing in players trained in the youth academy that has taken Pep Guardiola, Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández, Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí to the elite.However, it also served as a way to raise money for players who don't have a place in the first team. Famous names like Àlex Valle, Nico González, and Ilaix Moriba have had to seek a place elsewhere in exchange for a transfer. This formula has generated close to €200 million over the last 10 years. Both Josep Maria Bartomeu (2015-2020) and Joan Laporta (2021-2025) have used La Masia to make ends meet. Now, a potential transfer for Marc Casadó, a situation the Vallecas native would like to avoid, would allow Laporta to surpass the €100 million mark in sales of youth-trained players during the current term.

If someone had told Fermín López three years ago that he would receive the Joan Gamper Trophy Best Player award on August 10, 2025, he would have dismissed them as a madman. On August 19, three years ago, Barça announced the Andalusian midfielder's loan to Linares. After losing a place in the reserve team, it was time to move abroad to develop in semi-professional football. On that day, few could have imagined that he would end up triumphing in the Blaugrana shirt. With a double against Como (5-0), Fermín showed that he wants to be a starter. With Frenkie de Jong and Pedri covering the base of the midfield, there remains one position in which Hansi Flick will have to choose between three options: Gavi, Dani Olmo – now recovered after an overload – and the player from El Campillo (Huelva). For now, the attacking midfielder has played 78 minutes in which he once again showed off one of his greatest strengths: his goal-scoring instinct.

Barça's financial situation in recent years has led coaches like Hansi Flick, currently, and Xavi Hernández and Ronald Koeman, previously, to rely on La Masia. The strength of the Blaugrana team would be incomprehensible without its squad, an inexhaustible source of talent. They have also signed young players who already look like veterans, as was the case with Pedri. Preseason has allowed for the continuation of debutants who continue to establish themselves in the first team, as well as new promises who are knocking at the door, such as Dr. Fernandez or newcomer Roony Bardghji. Nearly twenty players between the ages of 17 and 24 make up an uninhibited squad that allows itself to continue dreaming of winning titles. This is Barça's great treasure.

The newspapers tell his story in the conditional or past tense. "What could have been and wasn't" or "Xavi who couldn't be." "I don't care, all these things. Those around me suffer more. Sometimes at home they ask me if I don't feel sorry. My wife, even my children sometimes, ask me: 'And you don't feel sorry?' Do you think about why? Do they think I didn't want to? That I wouldn't have liked to be what everyone thought I was going to be? "He was the best thing at La Masia. I'll never forget his name. A cross between Messi and Laudrup. "He had everything, but he lost it," said Xavi Hernández, a generation and dream teammate.

"Xavi, I arrived late because people stopped me on the metro, forgive me," Ansu Fati told Xavi Martín, looking bewildered by what had just happened to him. He was returning to La Masia from his parents' house – that day he was due to make his Barça first-team debut, at just 16 years old. "I went to my office, grabbed the front pages of the newspapers and told him: 'They stopped you for that. And from now on, you have to change your habits because you're a well-known person,'" Xavi Martín, director of La Masía between 2019 and 2021, recalls to ARA. He was also a member of the Barça squad with whom Martín coincided during his time as director of La Masia. The list includes Lamine Yamal, Cubarsí, Balde, Casadó, Marc Bernal, Fermín and Gavi. He still keeps in touch with many of them. The latter two were at La Masia because their families lived outside of Catalonia, but the club also believes the Blaugrana home is the best place for players experiencing difficult situations. This was the case with Lamine Yamal. "The decision was based on his situation from a family perspective. There could be more dysfunctional families or those who lived in difficult areas. There were players who needed academic, nutritional, sleep, and rest monitoring," Martín explained during the interview at his home in Vilassar de Mar.

There were about thirty boys. Teenagers. Some 12-year-old beardless, others almost men entering adulthood. Most footballers. Footballer projects. They lived in four rooms with bunk beds next to the Camp Nou. In the old Can Planes farmhouse, which since 1979 has welcomed hundreds of young people who dreamed of succeeding at Barça. La Masia represented for most of the residents a story of improvement, fun and friendship, but there were also episodes of humiliation, abuse and bullying that marked some young people. They were few, but they existed: a group of boys, especially basketball players, who between 1989 and 1993 suffered violence from some of their peers.